What it takes
by 1163
Summary: Dante wants Nero as a mate, but has Nero been through too much already? Nero/Dante M/M lemons ahead
1. Chapter 1

The wind thundered down crashing into the staggering body caught in its hold, the dark sky grumbled against the ashen clouds as the figure pressed on.

One foot in front of the other the figure struggled forwards, his worn boots squelched against the mud. White knuckles clutched the corners of his navy blue coat, pulling it tighter around himself; his effort doing little to protect his withered body.

The rain came thick and heavy that night drenching everything it touched. Dirty white hair clung to his face and stung his eyes. He coughed roughly, holding his chest and blood forming at his lips. Holding his position he swayed roughly in the wind, he hunched; his lungs screamed for air. His eyes scrunched to prevent the tears.

Mud clung to his boots, as if trying to suck him in. Every step an accomplishment as nature itself forced him back. He tried focusing on his music, barely audible over the wind; as it carried the blasting heavy beat away from his ear.

'I can't go back, I've got to keep moving!" with a new determination he quickened his footsteps, his frozen and aching joints protesting as he lurched forward.

- - - - - - - - - - Devil May Cry - - - - - - - - - - -

Dante snored his breathing flicking the pages of the magazine that rested on his face. The wooden chair creaked against the hunters weigh at its tilted position, two legs crossed rested on the table, his thick leather boots clicked against each other as he moved in his sleep.

It was the phone that managed to rouse the half devil from his slumber, it's incessant ringing irking the devil hunter "Urghhhhh. . ." the heel of his boot slammed into the old table, the phone receiver flying into the man's grasp.

" Devil May cry, wha da ya want?"

" Dante seriously learn some manners!" Trish bellowed down the phone, Dante held it from his ear as she ranted.

"Alright alright!, what have you got for me?"

" *sigh* . . .fine . . there's numerous call's been coming in about Avanda . ."

"Avanda?"

"Let me finish! . . as I was saying . . Avanda is a city roughly 3 days away, there have been rumours of a potential apocalypse and something has moved into the old mansion there, the locals have been calling anyone and everyone that could help there willing to pay a hefty sum to sort the problem out"

"So we've got a demon infestation and a possible hell gate . . . not like there's anything interesting happening here" Dante quickly wrote down the address of the place before hanging up. Chuckling at the angry face that Trish would now be pulling while shouting at a dead phone.

'The weather is horrible! Definitely taking the car!' Dante went about packing for the trip before putting on a hoodie underneath his famous jacket to add a bit more warmth. 'Looks like I'm taking a page from the kids book' he chuckled thinking about the kid's usual 'get up'.

Bidding farewell to his beloved shop he strapped on Ivory and Ebony and sheathed Rebellion, giving his home one more glance before he stepped from the warmth into the pouring rain, he jumped into his car as the rain beat down harder. The engine roared into life as the red convertible sped off, the rain making it almost unbearable to see out the window.

Dante took no time in turning on the heater and radio, flicking through the channels to find something decent, avenged sevenfold blasted through the speakers.

Grinning he relaxed back into the seat slumping and steered with one arm.

- - - - - - - - - Nero - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nero struggled on, black threatening to cloud his vision and drag him into the unconscious.

'Where am I … going?'

He wheezed as he staggered forwards and stumbled, he hit the floor hard. Trying to get up his arms struggled to hold his weight in the thick mud, his elbows wobbled and collapsed, so he lay there fading in an out of consciousness.

His devil arm flickered faintly.

- - - - - - - - - Back in the red Death machine - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dante had driven all night, only sleeping for a few hours before getting back on the road. He had a horrible feeling that something was terribly wrong, his gut lurched and his devil moaned in the back of his mind to drive faster like he had to be somewhere right now.

He had the same feeling in Fortuna when the kid was fighting off demons. 'Nero' damn he was back thinking about the kid, he'd been depressed for days after coming back from Fortuna; having left the spit fire. Not that he would ever admit it, he just couldn't stop thinking about him. 'We should go find him, bring him back with us' his devil grumbled.

Dante rubbed his hand over his face an through his hair 'Shut up would you, He has that girl Karla, Kera .. O whatever her name is'

He'd been driving for hours and the radio had suddenly ran out of any decent music, his stomach growled ruthlessly sighing and giving in to his stomach he pulled over and a small 24hr café. His demon growled in complaint, clawing at the back of his mind. pulling into the drive he ordered out, the slim waitress leaning a little to far over the counter to beat her thick fake eyelashes at him, he gave a half smile half grimace at her caked makeup face. Waiting for his order she sweetly handed him the large bag and box. Digging into his bag of treats he pulled a spoon and tub out, flinging the bag into the back. Jumping into his car, a spoon in his mouth, a strawberry sundae in his hand and a pizza box under his arm. He kicked the car into gear with a smile on his face, his demon sated for the time being.

- - - - - - - 9 hours later - - - - - - - -

The light of the car bounced off the road and reflected through the heavy rain making visibility almost impossible. Dante rubbed his eyes again pinching the bridge of his nose, looking back at the muddy road, squinting he managed to make something out. Slamming on his brakes and swerving just in time to miss the lump in the middle of the road.

"FUCKING HELL!"

Dante sighed taking a moment to breath, reversing he pulled up alongside the lump before throwing the door open to be assaulted by the harsh rain his eyes widening at the lump seemed to resemble a body.

"HEY! . . ." Dante shouted at the unmoving body on the floor but the harsh wind and rain made his shout a barley audible whisper. Grimacing Dante stepped out the car, staggered forward towards the body, his read coat twisted in the wind slicing through the rain; the small droplets beat against his stubled cheek. His eyes widened painfully, his throat clenched and his stomach lurched as he saw the navy coat.

' Please no…'

Dante rushed forward turning the kid over. Even with the kids usual white hair being caked in mud there was no denying it, it was the kid. 'Shit kid . . . what happened to you!'

Dante wasted no time in scooping the kid up into his arms and getting him into the car. The kid was soaking wet, his skin was pale and deathly cold he also hadn't failed to notice how light he was. Placing him in the back of the car Dante acted fast striping him of his coat and sodden top pulling off his worn boots and jeans his eyes ran over his pale skin in shock, the unhealed scars, bulled wounds and his ribs jutting out. He took off his own coat and hoodie and threw them over Nero trying to warm him up, his mind raced as he got back in the driver's seat.

"We need to get you somewhere warm!" For once his devil side agreed with him

'How did he get in such a state?!' the possibility's raced through his mind, his devil piped up screeching in the back of his mind to stop contemplating and get moving. His body on auto pilot as he drove at full speed to find a hotel.

It took Dante another half an hour to find a hotel, the entire time his demon was screaming at him to hurry up.

'Move it jackass we need to heal him!'

While his demon had been ranting at him Dante had already picked the kid up and rushed him into the building, it didn't take him long to convince the girl at the desk to give them a room for the night as soon as she saw Nero's state she was rushing around finding the first aid kit and ushering them into a room. It had been a long time since Dante had used a first aid kit; he healed so fast he never needed to use one, the closest he got was patching up one of lady's bullet wounds when she didn't move fast enough.

He set about cleaning the wounds up, making sure to apply a generous amount to the bullet wounds; cleaning the mud and infected skin from the wound, wincing as the kids face contorted in pain. Dante took a deep breath at the next step… extracting the bullets….. Dante extracted the last bullet with the tweezers making sure to clean the wound out after he did. He sighed looking down at the kid the cuts and holes not heeling he rubbed his hands over his face again, sitting next to Nero on the bed he resigned himself to bandaging the kid making the wrap tighter than normal so the wounds would hopefully knit back together.


	2. Chapter 2

Special thanks to carolinarubi , SirenaLoreley , bitbyboth, O and AshJovillette for the reviews sorry it's taken so long to update.

Chapter 2

Dante had tried to stay awake as he rested on the bed a constant battle between his demons need for reassurance that the kid was okay and his body fatigue. The fatigue won. Slipping into a heavy dream, Dante relaxed into the soft sheets of the bed his boots resting by the bed and his coat still draped over Nero despite the many layers of sheets. Call it possessive but Dante didn't care it shut his demon up.

Dante rolled in his sleep unconsciously closing the gap between himself and Nero, his nose close to Nero's neck, breathing in the scent of him only soothing him further.

- - - - - - - Hours later - - - - - - -

Nero groaned gritting his teeth, his fangs biting into his dry lips, his eyes scrunching up. 'Damn I feel like shit! Maybe a truck hit me' he tried to open his eyes but only groaned the small movement causing him pain, forcing threw it he pried one eye open into the dark musty room, the curtains were closed and the only sound seemed to come from the small heater by the bed and breathing in his ear.

'Wait breathing?!..' why hadn't he noticed it before? Usually his demon typed him off when someone was close by.

Using what little remaining energy he had he tilted his head coming face to face with a mop of white hair.

That's when he realised it.

The smell of gunpowder and leather, the reason his demon was content to sit by and do nothing, he felt safe.

"Dante…" it was barely there but he smiled and his demon purred. Of course it was the old man who else would find him but the red devil himself.

Dante let out a huge snore besides him and if it hadn't of hurt too much to move he would of laughed, only Dante could be that cute yet so deadly. Mentally shaking his head at the thought he looked down at the red leather coat covering him, god only knows the amount of battles it had seen or the amount of times it had been fixed, it was like a sort of armour for Dante and yet the devil had parted with it for him, not even taking the time to cover himself with blankets and still dressed.

'Can we keep it?' his devil side piped up out of interest.

'No... .'

'He won't mind, we can smell like him!' it seemed cheerful

'….'

'Borrow it?'

Nero rolled his eyes 'I'm going back to sleep'

'So is that a yes?'

'…'

- - - - - - - Dante - - - - - - -

Dante stretched, rolling his shoulder blades at the tightness and rolled slightly forwards as a buckle was pressing painfully into his side, coming to rest against a warm body "hmmm…" he smiled contentedly breathing in deeply smelling faint traced on vanilla, before coming to his senses 'Nero'.

Pulling himself from the alluring smell and warmth of the other body, he groaned and sat up flexing his sore muscles looking down as the smaller man in the bed he smiled, the kid had turned his head in his sleep towards him and his coat was clutched in his devil bringer

His devil grinned 'told you'

Groaning he slipped of the bed heading to the bathroom to relieve himself. Grabbing a glass from the sink he rinsed it before raising the water to his lips, taking long swigs, re-filling it he made his way back to the bed. Stopping as he locked gaze with two blue eyes

"Morning kid" Dante gave his usual grin.

"Hey old man" his voice came out raspy and weak. Dante strode over in a few strides he handed Nero the water carefully sitting the kid up, mindful of his wounds. Nero grasped the glass shakily, gulping the water down like he had never seen it before.

"Geeze kid slow down, you're going to choke!" pulling the glass back from his lips waiting for Nero to settle before handing it back. Finishing he smiled gratefully.

"How are you feeling?" placing the glass on the bedside table

"Like ass!" He chuckled, his voice still raspy; Dante couldn't help but join in.

"So…how'd you find me old man?"

"Was on a mission thanks to Trish and stumbled upon you lying in the middle of the road, dragged you're sorry ass here"

"And here is?"

"Some hotel" Dante shrugged"

"I guess I should thank you"

"Like I said last time kid, wouldn't suit you" Dante smirked as Nero's half grin

"I guess so, but thank you anyways, and thanks for the coat" he rubbed his nose then hissed at the contact.

"You're pretty banged up" Dante sat down on the side of the bed taking Nero's arm in his.

"what are you doing?" anger laced into his words, trying to wrench his devil arm out of Dante's grasp only succeeding in hurting himself further.

"I need to check you're wounds now stop being a baby and let me check them" Nero didn't miss the grown in the elder's voice and stopped struggling.

Un-wrapping the bandage around his demon arm, small bouts of blue light burst forth with the removal of the bandage. Dante smiled, the bullet wound had almost fully closed over and the open flesh were scaled had been ripped clean now had new shiny blue scaled emerging. Moving on he pulled down the covers to Nero's hips smirking at the kids protests and carefully unwrapped the bandages, Nero looked away his face matching Dante's coat, again checking the bullet holes to find them healing nicely and checking the gashes in his side, leaving smell red welts in their place, cleaning the wounds again and re wrapping him Nero stayed silent.

"You're healing fast… yesterday you weren't healing at all had me worried for a sec then kid"

"Nice to know you care old man" Nero gave an embarrassed chuckle "I thought you'd have noticed by now"

Dante cocked his head to the side raising one snowy eyebrow, half frowning.

Nero tilted his head looking at the bullets that had pierced his skin, resting on the table besides the first aid kit.

Dante's frown deepened at the memory of extracting them and the awful smell, he picket on up immediately dropping it as the metal seared the tips of his fingers

"What the!?.."

"Holly water and the bullets were blessed" Nero looked down at his lap

"But you're not a…

"Not a half demon...yea that's what I though, I went through maturing in the summer…gained myself a trigger too, those things hurt like a bitch"

"Damn kid" Dante's eyes widened as the realisation hit him, the kid really was like him "I'm guessing Fortuna did this to you, but how did you get so far?" He felt bad prying into the kid's life but he needed to know, needed to protect him.

"Most of it…" he took a breath his ribs jostled a bit still not fully healed 'might as well tell him, have to sooner or later' his inner voice grumbled. "When I...matured" he rubbed his nose again " I triggered and I wasn't sure how to change back, Kyrie freaked out screamed at that I was a monster an took off to find Knights. I eventually figured out how to change back, I was so drained I didn't fight back when the shot at me and carted me off into a cell, even had the nerve to starve me as they figured out what to do with me" he took a shake breath "they wanted to do some ritual crap, but it had to be on some specific day or some bull crap, eventually I got thin enough to force my body through the bars of my cell, flung myself out of a window or too and dint look back"

"That still doesn't explain the other marks! Or why you didn't come to find me after all this" Dante angrily gestured towards him.

Nero raised an eyebrow at the protective nature, unsure and not used to it. "I didn't have you're number, didn't know where you lived besides I hadn't finished explaining!" Dante settled down then huffed it was true he gave the kid a two fingered salute and pretty much abandoned him. He should have taken him back. 'We still should' his demon threw his two cense in.

"I didn't know where to go at first…but I remembered where my family used to be" Dante looked up from his musing at that "I thought I could get answers if I went back..."

"Your family did this to you!?" Dante raged

"SHUT UP!" Nero's voice cracked and strained at the force of shouting "my family is dead, died when I was a kid….." Dante immediately silenced himself, his eyes not leaving the kid's "I found something else there instead, some demon or maybe not a demon, I'm not sure either way it took a particular liking to me and I got away with this.." Nero's gestured to his body "then you found me" he gave a huge sigh having finished his story he was tired and frustrated

"Avanda…"

"What!"

"You're home…Avanda right? That's where my mission is, where I was heading before I found you" at the kids nod he pieced all the pieces together in his mind.

A grumbling stomach interrupted his thought, for once it wasn't his, chuckling he ruffled the kid's hair "hey…" The kid tried to swat at him already half asleep.

"Get some shut eye kid, I'm going to find something decent to fatten you up" He chuckled as the teen glared at him.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry this has taken so long to post iv been without my laptop for far too long.

Special thanks to SirenaLoreley, Huehuehuehuehueh , TwixyReitz, carolinarubi , blacquesironrain, Kid Darkness, grell2222, GothicaRoyal .

His mind was complicating matters, running over what Nero had told him. Fortuna after everything the kid had done had shunned him starved him and beat the kid half to death, after escaping had made his way to his previous home only to have a similar treatment at the hands of a demon.  
Dante mentally made a list:

Heal the kid  
Kick demon ass  
burn Fortuna, and all its ape shit crazy followers  
Drag Nero back to his den and have his way.

His demon growled in approval.

He had managed to find a small take a way behind the hotel unfortunately the rain still haven't let up and to make matters worse the place didn't sell pizza!  
Laden with boxes of Chinese food he made his way back, the heavy rain drenched him having left his coat covering one sleeping Nero. Dante found droplets of water falling from the hair at the nape of his neck, running down his back.

A puddle of pater marked his assent up the stairs to 'their' room, leaving a fun mess for some poor janitor. Awkwardly fumbling in his pocket for the keys, opening the door, if he wasn't Dante he would have stumbled and face planted the floor. Placing the cartons of food on the table, the door clicked shut. Running a hand through his hair his gaze shifted and settled on Nero, smirking evilly he crept closer to the sleeping figure, hovering above him, he took in Nero's sleeping form, the sheets had slipped down in his sleep pooling around his hips, a pair of black boxers just pocking out, Dante bit his lip. The kid had rolled on top of Dante's coat, his face buried in the leather, sprawled out on his front.

"Too cute kid" he leaned in, he looked so peaceful.

Unknown to him water collected at the tip of his snowy white hair, gathering until one large drip landed on Nero's back running down his spine. A frown appeared on Nero's face, quickly opening his eyes he found Dante hovering above him, rolling over to face him.

"Errr…Dante?"

"Hmmm?" Dante focused on Nero's dry lips as they parted and a pink tongue darted out to parch them.

"Errr I mean yea sorry kid, I came to wake you up, I guess I got distracted" he leaned away rubbing his neck. 'Wimp!' his demon huffed in annoyance.

Nero pulled himself into a sitting position, raising a delicate white brow at the elder. 'Why did you have to say that?! He was going to kiss us!' 'He was checking how I was' his demon face palmed at Nero's response.

"Tuck in kid" he gestured to the Chinese "I'm gonna grab a quick shower"

"You look like you already had a shower old man"

"Well someone was hogging my coat" he chuckled at Nero's blush and moved swiftly into the bathroom before Nero could take his revenge.

Dante quickly showered in order to appease his never ending grumbling stomach; he towel dried his hair then wrapped it securely round his waist. Collecting his wet clothes and hanging them on the radiator to dry, walking back into the main room he found Nero cross legged on the bed watching TV surrounded in blankets and happily chomping on chicken curry noodles. Nero was so taken in by the TV and food he didn't notice the bed dip.

"Is it good kid?" Dante reached over grabbing a carton of food and chopsticks, Nero grinned turning to him, his grin turned to a gulp. Racking his eves over Dante's damp naked chest and over strong arms, watching a droplet of water slide down his chest only to get absorbed by the towel around date's waist he audio ably gulped.

"Yea…r..really good!"

"You alright kid? You seem a bit flushed"

Nero shook himself back to awareness, storing that steamy image away for later. Turning back to glare at the TV, Dante chuckled at the kids reaction and tucked into his food, groaning at the taste "this is almost as good as pizza!"

"What's that one?"

"chow mein it's amazing" Dante smiled only to be interrupted 'feed him' his demon smirked " want some kid?" before Nero could answer Dante was already holding the hot treat out for him, making a noise of surprise he leaned forwards opening his mouth for the tasty morsel and hummed in enjoyment.

Dante almost groaned 'damn that's hot!'

"Want to try some?" Nero held out the curry flavoured chicken to Dante's lips, who all too happily accepted it. Dante's demon grinned and Nero's purred, the small act had initiated a courting that both demon sides were aware of.

"Tastes good kid" he winked watching the kid blush retracts the chop sticks and go back to watching a film.

"So what are we watching?" finishing off the last of his food.

"Van helsing" Nero had polished off his second carton of food, chucking it into the bin.

"He looks like Indiana Joan's with a cape!" he got a light punch to his arm for his efforts.

"I'm surprised you know who that is old man" Nero chuckle

"What do you take me for an OAP?" he huffed

"I was going to say fossil" Nero grinned

Dante chuckled, he had missed the little spitfire "don't be jealous kid, it doesn't suit you, you wish you could have a body like mine" he flexed for good measure, instead of receiving the punch or blush, Nero's face dropped. Self-consciously running his hands up and down his thin arms, aggravating the cuts and bruises before hugging his stomach.

"Hey kid I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that!" Nero continued to concentrate on the film. Sighing in defeat Dante had brought up a lot of unwanted memories out of that one sentence 'what to do...what to do? Distract him!'

Dante leaned against the headboard of the bed, quickly wrapping his arms around the kids thin waist, hauling him into his lap, cuddling him and resting his head on Nero's shoulder.

"DATE! What are you doing?!" Nero squirmed, prying at the elders arms to get free.

"Nu uh kid" pulling Nero firmly to him so there bodies were pressed together, Nero continued to struggle, Dante let out a small growled.

'STOP!' Nero's demon screeched until the teen sagged in defeat, his lithe body trembling, he slowly began to relax back into Dante's chest completely worn out, Dante loosened his grip a little, ready to tighten it again if necessary.

'See he won't hurt us' Nero sighed, he knew Dante wouldn't hurt him physically, when they spared the old man avoided dealing damaging blows, but could he trust him? As he had trusted others?

'He has always been there for us even when we have not asked for help' it was true no one but Dante had done such things for him, could it hurt to give him the benefit of the doubt?

Dante stilled as Nero stopped struggling, pretending to watch the film as Nero had done. Van Helsing shot some female vampire to a roof her flesh singing as the light reached her. Dante started to worry at the lack of response from Nero, only relaxing when the younger demon sagged in his arms.

"you're safe with me Nero" he needed the kid to let him help " you don't have to pretend to be okay" Nero turned in Dante's grasp and laid his head on the old man's chest, he lightly hugged the elder, Dante ran his hands up and down the kids spine as Nero silently cried.

They fell asleep like that, Dante asleep on his back with Nero curled into him, Dante's arm draped over Nero's back; covers pulled up to their waists and the TV still on in the background.

Waking up to the soft rays of light that manoeuvred round the curtains, Dante groaned. Rubbing his hand over his face he looked down at the foreign weight on his chest.

'MINE, MINE, MINE!' grinning at his demons thought and the sight before him, adoring the blue light coming from Nero's devil bringer that was illuminating his chest.

Nero groaned at the small movements and pressed his face further into Dante's chest his arm covering the rest of his face. Nero's devil purred out loud feeling content, only to receive a deep warm chuckle; Nero jumped at the noise and landed heavily on the floor. Chuckling again Dante offered him a hand to a now blushing Nero who slapped it away "I'm fine old man"

"Whatever kid, go grab a shower" he shook his head in amusement "I'm going to check our stuff is dry."

Hauling himself up off the ground he rubbed his nose and made his way into the bathroom unknowing of the pair of eyes fixated on his ass.

Dante finally got up as the younger slayer disappeared from view going to the window checking the weather. It was way too early for him but at least the weather had cleared up, the only sign it had rained were the puddles in the dips of the road. Grinning and closing the curtains again he began getting dressed in his usual attire, even laying the kids cloths out and humming about the amount of holes.

Meanwhile Nero had had the hottest shower making sure to clean all of his remaining wounds and re-dressed them once he was out, towel drying his hair before running his claws through it, acting as a comb. Wrapping a towel around himself he poked his head out the door. Safe, No Dante, he grinned taking the chance to quickly dress managing to even slip on his trench before Dante barged back in.

"Where did you run off to?"

"Was just paying our tab" Dane smiled reaching for the cold Chinese and wolfing some down.

Nero grimaced "So where we off to?"

Dante just grinned.


	4. Chapter 4

Special thanks to SirenaLoreley, GothicaRoyal and Kid Darkness

you guys always keep me writing =]

They had been driving for only a few hours before Nero began to get bored, he was slouched back in the seat. One of his knees pulled to his chest while the other was resting on the inside of the car door, his boots tapping against the metal and making Dante's eye twitch. He huffed again fiddling with the radio, not finding anything suitable he took to Dante watching. The old man seemed happy and relaxed behind the steering wheel, his gloved hand gripping the steering wheel in almost a caress; this car obviously meant a lot to him. Nero straightened in his seat a little to get a better look at Dante's face; his stubble had grown out a little, he had evidently neglected it before coming on the mission assuming it would be a quick job.

Out the corner of his eye Dante noticed the kid watching him, the kids bringer was playing with a hole in his jeans, a hole he hadn't long patched up in the kids own skin.

"Whatever it is kid just ask me it" Dante's eyes focused back on the road.  
"Why are we going back there?…"

"If you hadn't noticed kid you're without your weapons, you really just going to leave them with some worthless demon?"

Nero grimaced at the thought of what state his blade would be in.

"Besides you need to show me you're place you were talking about" Nero never talked about his past, he was curious where Nero had come from.

"We shouldn't go" Nero looked out the window "I can't defeat that demon and that house is a bad omen"

"Wanna talk about it?" Dante glanced back over, again focusing on the road as the road twisted into a tight corner.

"…"

"Come on Nero you know my past, that's no secret"

Nero kept his head turned looking out into forests that they were passing by, he sighed, he would find out sooner or later, might as well be from the horse's mouth.

"My entire family used to live there…we were a large family I was one of eight, I was the youngest until my twin sisters were born….I still don't know to this day why it happened." Nero took a big breath "I was five, I couldn't sleep so I went to get a glass of water, the taps weren't working so I went into the cellar bellow the kitchen; we always stored water. The house was so old, it had so many problems. The door over the cellar slammed shut, I thought Rayne was playing a prank on me, she was my oldest sister always had a fiery temper guess I picked it up off her… I realised soon it wasn't a prank. I heard my farther scream first he had tried to hold the demons off at the gates, but they came from every direction… when I managed to get free I ran to the stairs; I checked every room, each of them slaughtered. He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes at the memory, taking another breath. "I made it to my mums room, she was torn apart and ademon stood over her grinning, next thing I know he's sliced of my arm and I'm falling over the banister"

Dante's eyes were no longer fixed on the road.

"When I came to I couldn't move, I opened my eyes and realised why…. they had piled my family's limbs in one big pile …. I was trapped underneath them, it was another two days before I was found. My demon had managed to stop me bleeding to death and had started to repair my spine from the fall."

"Nero…"

"That wasn't enough though … my arm began to regrow; covered in translucent scales, only as I got older did it take on any colour. It's a contestant reminder of what I've lost"

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be, I went through a lot of counselling afterwards, I have learnt to cope"

"How did you end up in Fortuna?" Dante whispered softly.

"Some of the doctor wanted to run some ' tests' on me, I legged it ended up jumping into the sea thinking I could swim to the nearest island, a stupid move; i ended up being washed up on Fortuna's beach, and the rest you know."

Dante rested his hand on Nero's bringer "You have been through hell and back kid, but I think this is the world's way of telling you to live" Dante smiled warmly.

"That's one fucked up way to tell me" Nero cracked the smallest smile in Dante's direction looking down at their hand, his bringer resting comfortably underneath dantes leather covered hands

"If it holds so many bad memories, why go back there?" dante held his hand a little tighter.

"I had nowhere to go, at least there I had a roof over my head and I knew the place" Nero grumbled, another hour or two was spent in silence.

"So how long do you think until we get there?

"By the looks of it forty five minutes, an hour tops"

Nero bit his lip he knew his old house would be the best option; it was deserted, safe and was the furthest from where he had last sighted the huge ass demon. "We will head to my parents' house, it will be safer there and we can get some shut eye"

Nearing the small city Nero directed him down winding paths to a large clearing of paved slabs "Your car will be safe here, we have to walk on food the path is too overgrown to get your car through without some serious damage"

Dante smiled at the small consideration for Betty (his car), picking up his weapons from the back seat "which way kid?"

"Just follow me" Nero pushed through the overgrown bushes and trees allowing Dante to cut back some of the tougher areas, "were almost there" they came to a metal fence covered in ivy, "if I remember it was…" Nero pushed one of the bars and two moved sideways to make a secret passage into the courtyard "were here" Nero squeezed through followed closely by Dante.

Dante squeezed through with some effort only to gape at the huge mansion before him "I thought you said it was a house..." Dante gawped.

Nero rubbed his nose "It's not that big"

"I bet it can fit my place in it five times over" Dante whistled moving towards the large metal doors, they were severely damaged but still held together well. Nero moved up, as if his memory subconsciously kicked in taking the small globe on the side of the door an pulling it out, he twisted two pieces on it left the moved one piece up, placing it back into its original space the spear clicked back together and the large metal doors creaked open, revealing a large lavish entrance with a large staircase leading to the 2nd and 3rd floor, all the furniture was covered with old dusty sheets and despite the neglected appearance you could tell it had been well loved at one time.

Nero punched dante in the arm to stop him gawping "Come on old man we can rest up in one of the guest rooms" Nero steered them away from the too familiar stairs and into a room on the 3rd floor. It was just as beautiful as the hall, the floor was marble with pale blue walls and all the wood was carved into; he admired the small vain in the marble. Nero chuckled drawing his attention

"Sorry, my mum chose the marble I remember her saying it's easier to clean up all the blood"

"Your dad uses to fight demons?"

"They both did, my mum was part demon" Nero walked to the curtains of the large window throwing them open and opening the windows to let the dust out, pulling off the dust cover for the bed and chucking it in a wardrobe.

"Were not that different you and I" Dante smiled at him running a hand down Nero's arm, lightly gripping him to turn him to face him "We should get some sleep, we will look for your weapons later" Nero didn't protest and was guided to the bed.

'A few hours can't hurt' Nero striped down to his shirt and boxers and climber in, Dante following his example in a pair of boxers. It was hard for Nero to drift of that night, surrounded by this a little too familiar and the thoughts of what has happened plagued him. Making a quick decision Nero rolled onto his side cuddling up to Dante his head resting under Dante's chin.

One blue eye cracked open to star down at the teens sleeping face, a gentle smile pulled at his lips and he curled an arm around the kid's waist.


End file.
